Tribeca 2017: WHITNEY: Can I Be Me? ReviewPosted by Dominga Martin
April 28, 2017
With WHITNEY: Can I Be Me?, documentarians Nick Broomfield and Rudi Dozeal take viewers inside the deeply personal moments of icon Whitney Houston’s life, during a world tour in 1999.
Archival footage and interviews (both past and present) share with us the story of the real Whitney. A girl who was from the hood of Newark, created to be an American pop star. “Can I be Me?” was often a phrase she’d use when becoming overwhelmed with the facade of who her label wanted her to be, rather than who she was authentically.
“Success doesn’t change you…fame does,” says Whitney during one of her many interviews where journalists would probe into her life and drug use.
Whitney Houston, to family and friends was a free spirit, who enjoyed big laughs and was great at stepping into the facade of the icon we all have fallen in love with. Clive Davis, although not featured in the documentary discovered her, and knew first hand that not only would she be a huge star, but an artist he can groom and create into the Whitney, most fans and critics thought they knew.
The filmmakers take us on a dark journey of a star falling from grace—a tour in which her voice was fading, she was at the peak of dysfunction with her husband Bobby Brown—another persona who embraced the title “Bad Boy” yet, in this documentary, you discover these two were kindred spirits of the same pod—with Bobby, she could be her true authentic self without pretenses. Yet, the conflict within their relationship, as shown on film were not just the intrusion of drugs, which were not introduced to her by Bobby Brown—but the relationship with her best friend and only confidant, prior to her relationship with Bobby—Robin Crawford.
Fans and journalists often speculated about a possible love affair between Whitney and Robin, and while this question is never answered, the overbearing heaviness and weight of everyone’s prying minds is evident. It seems to me, that Robin was her only confidant, a motley crew who she could also be her full and complete self. Robin was Whitney’s protector, and it is evident in her support of the iconic singer throughout this film.
The journey into a glimpse into Whitney’s world, begins on the dreadful night in 2012, with a 911 call from a Beverly Hills Hotel employee, reporting that a woman was in a bathtub and not breathing. We all know what happened next—Whitney Houston, at the age of 48 had died and everyone wondered how? Leaving behind her and Bobby’s only daughter Bobbi Kristina, who met the same fate, just 3 short years later. Beyond tragic. It is the moment that young Bobbi Kristina makes an appearance on stage with Whitney, that the audience in the theater began to wipe tears, with a reality that both were gone.
Candid and raw interviews including Whitney’s long time international body guard, Bobby Brown’s sister Tina Brown, Whitney’s glam team and close friends all share insight on the star who needed a rescue. However, no one could save her from herself. This documentary is a sad, tragic account of a gift from God who was taken away, too soon.
